Disintegrator having downwardly inclined baffles



2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. CLARENCE R. STEELE ATTORNEYS C. R. STEELE DISINTEGRATOR HAVING DOWNWARDLY INCLINED BAFFLES June 16, 1964 Filed Nov. 17, 1960 U U was.

June 16, 1964 c. R. STEELE 3,137,334

DISINTEGRATOR HAVING DOWNWARDU I INCLINED BAFFLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 17, 1960 IFIJGI4I INVENTOR. CLARENCE R. STEELE AT TO R NEYS United States PatentO 3,137,334 DISINTEGRATOR HAVING DOWNWARDLY INCLINED BAFFLES Clarence R. Steele, Denver, Colo., assignor to Silver (Zorporation, Denver, Colo., a corporation of Colorado Filed Nov. 17, 1960, Ser. No. 69,992 16 Claims. (Cl. 146-192) This invention is directed to a comminutor or disintegrator and more particularly to method and means for disintegration and size reduction of vegetal materials.

In the comminution and size reduction of vegetal materials, and particularly fibrous vegetal materials such as sugar cane, special designs, construction, and method of operation are required because available apparatus used in treatment of other material of similar size is not suited for treating certain of these vegetal materials, such as sugar cane, having intrinsic moisture or natural sap content which tends to cause lumping, agglomerating build up or packing of material in the'apparatus. I have found it desirable that the material treated be forced into and through the zone of disintegration and maintained under pressure during its passage therethrough. Further, my invention takes advantage of this same tendency of such vegetal materials to agglomerate by providing a novel internal screening closure and deflecting structure at a subsequent stage. The disintegrating zone includes novel hammer members, which reduce the-vegetal material to afinely divided mass, and are designed to overcome the deleterious eflects of tramp iron, stones and the like in the feed.

Briefly, my invention is comprised, essentially, of a housing having an inlet at one end and an outlet at the opposite end into which cutor chopped materials are force-fed through a restricted feed conduit at the top. Theupper zone of the housing has additional force feed-- 3,131,334 Patented June 16, 1964 2 provide a novel hammer aronly accomplishes the desiredfuncbut also employs a novel mounting to prevent damage to the hammers by foreign materials passing in contact therewith. c e

It is a further object of my invention to provide a novelclosure and aperture arrangement enclosing the disintegrating zone whic 7 takes advantage of inherent characteristics of material being processed to obtain a superior disintegration.

Other features and cluding novel details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, will becomeobviousto those, skilled in the art from the following description in which reference is made to the appended exemplary drawings.

In these drawings: FIG. 1 is a partially. broken side elevation of disin- Still another object is to rangement which not tion of disintegration,

tegrating apparatus embodying features of myinventive concept;

FIG. 2 is a section FIG. 3 is a partial of FIG. 1;

along the line 2-2 of FIG. -1; I section taken along the line 33 FIG. 4 is an alternative arrangement of hammer elementsof a device such as shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a developed elevation of a portion of the enclosure for the disintegration zone the apparatus of FIG. 1. c Before describing the drawings in detail, it should be understood that I do not wish to rather by'the spirit and 'a scope .of my invention as defined in the hereafter appended claims.

13 and 14, respectively.

ing mechanism which continually pushes or forces the material into and through the disintegrating zone in contact. with a plurality of vertically spaced groups orsets of hingedly mounted hammer members so as to reduce the vfeed mass to a finely divided, substantially homogeneous mass and extrude or force it as substantially contiguous rod-like mass through a plurality of large, generally rectangular, apertures in an internalscreening closure. The material forced through the apertures,- is deflected downwardly by a plurality of vanes or baffles, which tend to choke the discharge from the apertures andaid the extruding process. outwardly positioning of the vanes or bafiiles directs, the rod-like masses into contact with impellers which break. up the rods and lumps of material and movement through the outlet.

Becauseof the novel rangements forwthe hammers, ,tramp iron, rocks; and similar foreign materials do not damage the hammers with which they may -come in contact. The same hammer mounting arrangement and construction also pro- The downwardly and eject it for final hinged or pivotal mounting ar-.

, comprised ofaplurality oiyertically spaced impellers A disintegrator according to my inventive concepts is shown in FIG, 1 as including a generally tubular central housing section 10 connected .between a discharge case ing ll'fsiand an upper housing 12 by means such as bolts .Mounted on the top of the housing 12 is a housing 15 for supporting a power source 16 such as an electric motor. T

The disintegrator preferably has an upper'feed dise. tributing zone 17 with a positive feed mechanism therein preferably in the form of the vertically mounted double housing 26. extendsoutwardly for interconnection a' power source distributing zone 17 and receives the ,iegetal material.

'force fed by'conveyor 18.

vides multiple selective arrangements of hammers at.

various positions in the disintegrating zone.

' It is an object of my inventionto provide a simple, efiicient and economical methodof disintegrating vegetal materials which is adapted to accommodatel variations.

in properties and characteristics of such material by, component parts of the. inechasimple adjustments of nism used in performing such methods.

Another object of this invention is to provide simple,

durable and efficient apparatus for disintegrating vegetal materials which employs a force feeding action into,-1 9 through and out of the-disintegrating zone was to main:

tain full capacity operation over extended periods oftreat.

ment.

screw conveyor 18. The conveyor18 is mountedfon a central shaft 19 which'is suitably supported by the a bearing arrangement 20 and forms an extensionof the power take off shaft 21 of the motor 16. A second positive feed mechanism, a1so'..pref erablya screw conveyor, and c through a housing 26 adjoining a side the top of distributing; to said zone of housing 12-at' zone "17 to provide a 'force feed and a.- hopper .22} delivers the feed into The shaftportion 27 of the conveyor 25,

(not shown).

A disintegratingzone is disposed below the upper feed forms an annular extension by four inches high.--. The 31; is'a substantial "portion :of-the lengthbf the central housing or casing 10 and preferably'f'is about one-half the heightthereof.

34, extend at a each row in substantially parallel relationship; 'i'liafiles 33 extend outwardly beyond batlles '34 in spaced relation to housingflo and define passages of substantially unis advantages of my invention, in

be limited thereby, but

shown as double screw conveyor 25, extendsv A housing or closure 31' c c of housing 12' and has a; plurality of parallel rows of; enlarged apertures32 (see FIG. 5) which in fco mme rcial "devices "may be of theapproximate dimensions of two and one-half inchesfwide' height of the closure member form size from top to bottom.

7 positive feed means, or double thershaft l9, forces As shown in FIG. 3, baflie 34 is formed in two sections 34a and 3% having end flanges 340 secured by bolts 34d. Battle 33 may be assembled in the same way.

The lower end of the shaft 19 is maintained in a thrustbearing relationship with a lower housing 35 by a supporting spider assembly 36. A plurality of vertically spaced hammer members 37 are supported on the shaft 19 for conjoint rotation therewith in substantially horizontal paths. The preferred manner of mounting these hammers is to sandwich them between a spacer 4d and a collar 41 disposed directly above and below each hammer 37. This arrangement is repeated and continued along the shaft from the top to bottom of the disintegrating zone. The collars and hammers are held together in the sandwich by elongated bolt and nut arrangements such as 45 and 45a. a

In FIG. 3, it will be seen that the collarmembers 41 are keyed to the shaft 19 by an elongated key 42 fitting in opposed complementary slots in the collars and shaft. With this arrangement, each of the hammers 37 is adapted for limitedhorizontal pivotal movement, between pins.

43, normal to the shaft. These pins are spaced at regular intervals around'the collars, and will be referred to in more detail hereinafter. The dotted line 44 in FIG. 3 is indicative of the rangeor magnitude of pivotal movement of the hammers 3'7.

One or a plurality of impellers are mounted on shaft 19 below the hammers 37 for conjoint rotation therewith to intercept falling material discharged through openings 32. In the drawings, I have shown a pair of hinged impellers t and 51 spaced 180 relative to each other and mounted in the same horizontal plane. The outerends of the impellers are disposed in closely spaced relation to housing so as to contact; fallingmaterial throughout the entire area of housing 10.

'The pins 43 are arranged for selective interchangeable I and staggered arrangements for mounting the hammers 37, such as the arrangement'shown in FIG. 4, wherein the uppermost collar shown has three hammers mounted thereon. The collar below the uppermost, also has three hammers but they are staggered in non-equiangular relation to the uppermost hammers.

' In assembling the hammers for a given operation, the spacing positions are selected and elongated bolts such as 45 or 45a are passed through aligned openings in the collars 41"and hammers 37. After spacing in this manner, pins 43 remaining openings so as to act pivotal movement of the hammers- I In operation, a disintegrator such as shown inthe draw ings may be placed in a conventional material treatment circuit such as a sugar cane refinery. The material which is fed to the disintegrator will. have been previously reduced to'about three or four inch lengths and is fed into the feed hopper 2S and thence into contact 'with the 4 screw conveyor 25. The rotating conveyor 25 in housing 26 forces the confined material into the upper feedzone 17. The-double screw conveyor or positive feed means 18 rotating therein on $7. The hammers also are moving in conjointrotation with the shaft andthey hammer and break up the material fed in contact therewith. The. comminuted material is forced through the apertures 32'and because of the close spacing between the closure vand the -:ends of the hammers andjthe inherent tendency of the material, such as vegetal materials to lump and agglomerate, such v thematerial down into and through the intermediate disintegrating zone into contact with a plurality of vertically spaced sets or groups of hammers 'masses of material passing" 1 ing said shaft. V I

an inlet and an upper feeddistributing zone,

. A 7 members 33 and 34. The

into contact with the impellers'Sll and 51 which are also moving in conjoint rotation with the shaft 19. 7 These impellers break up the rods and lumps of material which then fall through the casing 11 in a loosened or fiuffycondition for the refinery operation.

Any tramp iron, rocks, and other relatively hard foreign material which is included in the feed material will .';not

disposition at any stage of damage the hammers or impellers because of their pivotal hinged arrangement wherein upon contacting such hard materials, they pivot When different consistencies or toughness of feed materialsare encountered, selective arrangement of the hamthe uppermost, to thereby obtain the desired consistency in the disintegrated product. i r I A distinctive feature of the structural arrangement previously described is the provision of a space of substantial vertical extent between the lowermost hammer member and the impellers and 51 which permits passage of material outwardly into. impact. relationship with said impellers and discharge in afluffy; consistency distant from the shaft rather than packing around said shaft as otherwise might'occur. 7

Another distinctive feature of the arrangement is the choking effect on the the position of baflles '33 and 34, which cause material in the intermediate zone to be delayed inwardly of the periphery of the enclosure before discharge through the apertures 32. Most of the hammer action is directed against material alined with, said openings rather than material located between the walls of closure 31 and the outer ends of hammers 37, thereby preventing an accelerated passage of material through the intermediate zone and assuring adequate hammer impact to attain the such material passes. out of desired reduction before the discharge apertures 32.

to have protected following claims.

I claim:

by Letters Patent is set forth in'the minuting zone and a lowerpro'duct sive'of a bottom discharge outlet, a I ing downwardly through said upper and vzones, a plurality of vertically spaced. hammer members hingedly supported from said shaft for conjoint rotation therewith within said intermediate zone, a stationary .2. A disintegrator comprising a hollow housing 7 j anintermediate commmuting zone and a lower product into said intermediate zone,- a plurality of vertically. spaced hammer members hingedly supported from said-f i deflected material then passes or move out of contact therewith, without damage to the hammers.

instance, if a relatively intermediate zone deriving from 1 Having thus describedmy invention, what I' desire havin removal zone inclusive of a bottom through said upper zone and into.

r shaft for conjoint rotation therewith within said intermediate zone, a stationary closure beyond the ends of said members having upper and lower rows of discharge openings of substantial vertical extent, a downwardly inclining baflle mounted on the exterior'of said closure at the top of each row, at least one impeller supported for rotation by said shaft below said inclining baffles, a positive-feed mechanism for moving a material to be disintegratedinto said upper zone, said vertically-spaced hammer members being arranged to direct incoming material through said intermediate zone and out said openvertical extent, a downwardly inclining bafiie mounted,

on the exterior of said closure at the top of each row, at least oneimpeller supported for rotation by said shaft beneath said inclining baffles, a positive-feed mechanism for moving material to be disintegrated into saidupper zone, positive-feed means for moving material through said upper zone to said intermediate zone, spaced hammer members and said impeller cooperating to direct incoming material downwardly through said intermediate zone and from said lower zone, and means for rotating said shafL' 4. A disintegrator comprising a hollow housing having an inlet and an upper feed distributing zone, an intermediate comrninuting zone and a lower product removal zone inclusive of a bottom discharge outlet, a rotary shaft extending downwardly through said upper zone and into said intermediate zone, a plurality of vertically spaced hammer members hingedly supported from said lower product removal;

said verticallythrough said openings, and means for rotating said shaft mounted on said housing.

6. A disintegrator comprising a hollow housing having an inlet and an upper feed distributing zone, an intermediate comminuting zone and a'lower product removal zone inclusive of a bottom dischargeoutlet, a rotary shaft extending downwardly through at least said upper zone and into said intermediate zone, a plurality of vertically spaced hammer members hingedly supported from said shaft for conjoint rotation therewith within said intermediate zone, fa stationary annular closure beyond the ends ofsaid members having upper and lower rows of discharge openings of substantial vertical extent, a downwardly inclining bafile mounted on the exterior of said closure at the top of each ported for rotation by said shaft beneath said inclining baflies, a positive-feed mechanism for moving material to be disintegrated into said .upper zone, said vertically row, at least one impeller sup-o spaced hammer members and said impeller cooperating to direct incoming material downwardly through said intermediate zone and from said lower-zone, and means forfrotating said shaft.

5. A disintegrator comprising a hollow housing having an inlet and an upper feed distributing zone,- an interme: diate comminuting zone and a lower product removal zone inclusive of a bottom discharge outlet, a-rotary shaft extending'downwardly through said upper zone and into said-intermediate zone, a plurality of vertically spaced hammer. members hingedlysupported from said shaft for conjoint rotation therewith within said intermediate zone,1 a stationary annular closure beyond the ends of. said members having upper and lower rows of discharge openings of substantial-vertical extent around the closure, a downwardlyinclining baflie mounted 'onzthe'exterior. of said closure at the top of each row, at least one impeller supported for rotation bafiles, a positive-feed mechanism for moving material to bedisintegated intosaid upper zone through saidirilet,

positive-feed means for moving 'material' through'saidupper zone'to said intermediate zone,"afplurality of'said vertically-spaced impellers arranged to direct incoming material downwardly through saidintermediate zone and by said. shaft beneath saidiinclini ng zbne in saidi'r econd'hous ng"includinga plurality of :verti-: V cally spaced hammer members supportedfrom a rotaryl f ings,and means for rotating stanti al verticalre xtent bafile meanslhaving downwardly portions extending from A and at least one impeller'supported on said'shaft for'rotazone and said shaft for conjoint rotation therewith within said intermediate zone, a stationary tubular closure surrounding the ends of said members having a plurality of vertically spaced rows of-discharge openings of substantial vertical extent around said"closure,-a bafile member mounted on 1 having a planar bottom upper zone, said vertically-spaced hammer members incoming material downwardly through arranged to direct said intermediate zone and extrudeit throughsaid opensaid shaft. a i Y 7. A disintegrator; comprising ahollow housing having an inlet and an upper feed distributing zone, an intermediate comminuting' zone anda lower product removal zone inclusive of a bottomdischarge outlet, a rotary shaft extendingdownwardly throughatleast said upper zone and into said intermediate'zone, a plurality of vertically spaced hammer membersshaft ifor conjoint rotation therewith-within said interme- ,diate zone, a stationary tub'ular closuresurrounding the ends of said members having a plurality of vertically spaced rows of discharge openings of substantial vertical extent around said closure, a

the:exterior of said closure and having a planar bottom surface downwardly incliningffrom the top of eachrow', at. leastone impeller supported for'rotation by said shaft beneath said inclining baffles, a positive-feed mechanism for moving material. to be disintegrated into said upper zone, said yertically-spaced hammer membersarranged to direct incomping material downwardly through said intermediate zone and extrude it through-said openings, and means for rotating said shaft.

ing an inlet arid.'an outlet,-a

second hollow housing mounted internally of saidfirst housing and'exten'ding throughout a major portion of the length thereof,-an upper feed distributing zone' in said first housing includingpositive feed means, an intermediate 1 comminuting zoneiin said second housing including a baflle-meansfor impactingmaterial descending from said j bafllemeans. 7 7 T t 9. A distintegrator comprising a hollow housing havingj an inlet 'andfan outlet, asecond hollow housing conceit; trically mounted internally-offsaidj first housingand exf tending through out a major portion of the ilength thereof,

an upper feed'distributirlg zone in said firsthousinginclud- .ing 7 positive fe'e d means; an

intermediate eomminuting shaft, a plurality of rows of discharge openings ofx'subi. the said, second housing member, v

@521 b om surfacesz the top of each of said'openings,

tion below said intermediate comminuting relation to each other hingedly; supported from c said baffle member mounted'on .8. A distintegratorfcomprisingla.hollowhousing havplurality of vertically spaced hammer members supported from a rotary shaft,

the said second housingmember, baffle a plurality of rows of discharge openings of substantial vertical extent in the diate comminuting zone and said battle means for impacting material descending from said baffle means.

charge openings of substantial vertical extent in said tubular closure, baflle means having a downwardly extending bottom surface extending from the top of each of said openings, at least one impeller supported on said shaft'for I rotation below sa1d intermediate comminuting zone and :said bafifle means for impacting material descending :said bathe means.

12. A disinte Fing an inlet and an outlet, a tubular closure concentrically said second housing, downwardly top of each 'cormninu'ting means; and said impeller memberszone and said bafiie angles relative to being mounted about 180? relative to each other in sub:

stantially the same horizontal plane.

14. A disintegrator comprising-a hollow housing having an upper feed distributing zone an intermediate comminuting zone and a lower product removal zone inclusive of a bottom'discharge out et, a rotary shaft extending down- Wardly inclining battle mounted on :the exterior of said closure at thejtop of each row, at least one ported tor'rotation by said shaft below impeller sup- 7 said inclining bafilcs, a positive-reed mechanism for moving material to be disintegrated into said upper zone, positive-feed means for rotating said shaft.

15. A disintegrator comprising a hollow housing having an upper feed distributing zone, an. intermediate cornbafiles, a positive-feed mechanism for mojvsaid inclining o be disintegrated into said upper zone, posiing material t tive feed means mounted on said shaft above said ham diate zone, and means for rotating said shaft.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS- 271,399 Baker Jan. 30, 1883 287,360 Bell Oct. '23, 1883 2,345,779 Wagner Apr. '4,

,599} Rietz-; l. Feb. 27, 195 1 a 7 ,809 Urscbel Mar. 3, 1959; v ,114. Plaven" Nov. 17,1959

21 2288 L fi hnell Sept. -3, 1960,11 

8. A DISTINTEGRATOR COMPRISING A HOLLOW HOUSING HAVING AN INLET AND AN OUTLET, A SECOND HOLLOW HOUSING MOUNTED INTERNALLY OF SAID FIRST HOUSING AND EXTENDING THROUGHOUT A MAJOR PORTION OF THE LENGTH THEREOF, AN UPPER FEED DISTRIBUTING ZONE IN SAID FIRST HOUSING INCLUDING POSITIVE FEED MEANS, AN INTERMEDIATE COMMINUTING ZONE IN SAID SECOND HOUSING INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF VERTICALLY SPACED HAMMER MEMBERS SUPPORTED FROM A ROTARY SHAFT, A PLURALITY OF ROWS OF DISCHARGE OPENINGS OF SUBSTANTIAL VERTICAL EXTENT IN THE SAID SECOND HOUSING MEMBER, BAFFLE MEANS HAVING DOWNWARDLY INCLINED BOTTOM SURFACE PORTIONS EXTENDING FROM THE TOP OF EACH OF SAID OPENINGS, AND AT LEAST ONE IMPELLER SUPPORTED ON SAID SHAFT FOR ROTATION BELOW SAID INTERMEDIATE COMMINUTING ZONE AND SAID BAFFLE MEANS FOR IMPACTING MATERIAL DESCENDING FROM SAID BAFFLE MEANS. 